Infestation 2: G.I. Joe #1 REVIEW

The story begins in Antarctica where one Dr. Llund discovers something that is connected to the Elder Gods. The man who accompanies her is basically sacrificed in order to get what she wants.

We then switch to Interrogator, one of the Cobra survivors from the previous Infestation, who is overseeing the Cobra operatives who have lost their mind and are being held in Cobra’s Snake Pit– a place the guards call Cobra-La “as in Cobra La-La Land for the Loonies.”  This leads us to Llund showing the Baroness the object she found: a doorway to the realm of the Elder Gods.

This is where things get interesting. A guy called Crystal Ball shows up and basically tries to stop Llund from opening the door. Baroness seems to want to just get rid of it despite Cobra Commander’s orders to find something supernatural to help their cause. Once Crystal Ball leaves the room, however, Baroness tells Llund to open it if it will aid Cobra and that the nuts in Cobra-La are at her disposal.  She later tells Crystal Ball to sell the artifact.
I’m not sure who Crystal Ball is but I get the feeling he isn’t someone you want to mess with.

The action begins when Llund holds a ritual and opens the door, infecting all the troops in Cobra-La with the Elder Gods madness, turning them into monsters. Interrogator is somehow immune to the madness and if not for the timely intervention of Storm Shadow, would have been killed by the monsters.  Storm Shadow is there at the request of Crystal Ball in hopes of stopping the ritual or, in failing to do that, prevent the madness from leaving the underground compound.  Essentially what we have is Cobra losing control over something it never had true control over and now it’s in containment mode so it doesn’t lose everything.

I’ve really enjoyed having both G.I. Joe and Transformers return for this Infestation. They make it easier to compare the two and I have to say, even with my love of zombies, that this year’s event is a lot better than last years… and I never thought I’d say something like that!

This Cthulhu stuff is very interesting and truly holds a feeling of dread and possibly loss over these characters. Even with the knowledge that no one will actually die.

Mike Raicht‘s writing is also very well done and perfectly paced for this sort of story while the art of Valentine De Landro is moody and atmospheric giving a sense of realism even, in the world of G.I. Joe Vs. Elder Gods.  The only bad thing is having to wait two weeks for the conclusion!